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Founding of Roanoke
The first English Colony of Roanoke, was founded in 1585, 22 years before Jamestown and 37 years before the Pilgrims landed in Massachusetts, In 1584 Raleigh had been granted a patent by Queen Elizabeth I to colonize America. Unfortunatly, the colony just seemed to disapear without a clear reason as to why. -
Founding of Maine
The first settlement was established by the Plymouth Company at Popham in 1607, the same year of the settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. Because the Popham colony didn't survive the harsh Maine winters, Jamestown enjoys the distinction of being regarded as America's first permanent settlement. -
Founding of Jamestown
Jamestown was the first successful English settlement on the mainland of North America. Named for King James I of England, Jamestown was founded in the Colony of Virginia. -
Founding of Quebec
Quebec City was founded by the French explorer and navigator Samuel de Champlain in 1608. Prior to the arrival of the French, the location that would become Quebec was the home of a small Iroquois village called "Stadacona". -
Founding of New York
Although the Dutch West India Co. explored and began to settle the New York area as early as 1614,occupation of the area did not occur until 1624.In 1626, Peter Minuit arrived on Manhattan Island with other Dutch settlers, bought the island from the local Indians for $24 worth of goods.In 1664, after King Charles II decided to reclaim the territory between Virginia and New England. -
Founding of Massachussets
Founded by a group of Separatists and Anglicans, who together later came to be known as the Pilgrims, Plymouth Colony was, along with Jamestown, Virginia, one of the earliest successful colonies to be founded by the English in North America and the first sizable permanent English settlement in the New England region. -
Powhatan Confederation
Powhatan Confederation was a Virginia Indian confederation of tribes. In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, a mamanatowick (paramount chief) named Wahunsunacawh (a.k.a. "Chief Powhatan"), created a powerful organization by uniting 30 Indian tribes, in a place called Tsenacommacah. This was a peaceful time between the indians and the settleers until Chief Powhatan's death in 1618, when hostilities with colonists escalated under his brother, Opechancanough, who tried to drive them away -
Founding of New Hampshire
The colony that became the state of New Hampshire was founded on the division in 1629 of a land grant given seven years previously by the Council for New England to Captain John Mason and Sir Ferdinando Gorges (who founded Maine). The colony was named New Hampshire after the English county of Hampshire, one of the first Saxon shires. Hampshire was itself named after the port of Southampton, which was known previously as simply "Hampton". -
Founding of Deleware
Deleware was first claimed by the Dutch by right of the discovery of Hudson, next by the Swedes, who made the first permanent settlement, and finally it came into the possession of the English. -
John Locke
John Locke is widely known as the Father of Classical Liberalism,he was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, he is equally important to social contract theory. His work had a great impact upon the development of political philosophy. His writing is reflected in the Decleration of Independence.
(29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704) -
Founding of Maryland
In 1632, King Charles I of England granted a charter to George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore,giving him rights to a region east of the Potomac River in exchange for a share of the income from the land. The territory was named Maryland in honor of Henrietta Maria, the queen consort of Charles I. Maryland became a haven for Roman Catholics persecuted in England. -
Founding of Rhode Island
In 1636, Roger Williams, after being banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his religious views, settled at the tip of Narragansett Bay, on land granted to him by the Narragansett and Pequot tribes. He called the site Providence and declared it a place of religious freedom. -
The Founding of Connecticut
The Connecticut Colony o Originally known as the River Colony, it was a haven for Puritan noblemen. After early struggles with the Dutch, the English gained control of the colony permanently by the late 1630s -
The Enlightenment
Enlightenment opened a path for independent thought, and the fields of mathematics, astronomy, physics, politics, economics, philosophy, and medicine were drastically updated and expanded. The amount of new knowledge that emerged was staggering. Just as important was the enthusiasm with which people approached the Enlightenment: -
The Navigation Acts
The Navigation Acts were first passed in 1651 and was designed to control trade between England and its colonies by limiting the use of foreign shipping. Like many other Acts, this caused opposition in the American colonies which later led to the American Revolutionary War. -
Founding of South Carolina
In 1663, King Charles II issued a royal charter to eight nobles to settle the area south of Virginia. They created Carolina and included the previous settlement. However, because of internal problems, the crown took over the colony and formed North Carolina and South Carolina out of it in 1729. -
Founding of Jersey
New Jersey was originally settled by the Dutch as New Netherlands .In 1664, after gaining control of Dutch land lying between Virginia and New England, the Duke of York made a grant to Sir George Carteret and Lord Berkeley, of the land between the Hudson and the Delaware River. These men intended to sell real estate. The new grant was named New Jersey for Carteret, who was governor of the Isle of Jersey. -
King Phillip's War
The King Philip's War was a bitter and bloody conflict between the Algonquian speaking Indian and the English settlers. It took place from June 1675 to August 1676 ending in victory for the colonists. SOme reasons for the war was: Trade declined between the Native Indians and the Colonists.Livestock trampled over Indian cornfields. The colonists adopted 'heavy handed' tactics with the Native Indians -
Bacon's Rebellion
Bacon's Rebellion was an uprising in 1676 - 1677 against American Indians and the colonial government in the Virginia Colony over taking action for thefts by the Native Americans. It was led by Nathaniel Bacon, a wealthy 29-year-old planter, against the Governor of Virginia, Sir William Berkeley. Bacon's Rebellion was the first rebellion in the American colonies. -
Founding of Pennsylvania
In 1681, King Charles II handed over a large piece of his American land holdings to William Penn to satisfy a debt the king owed to Penn's father. This land included present-day Pennsylvania and Delaware.His goal was to create a colony that allowed for freedom of religion to protect himself and fellow Quakers from persecution. -
Montesquieu
Montesquieu, was a French social and political thinker who lived during the Enlightenment. He is famous for his authoring of the theory of separation of powers
(18 January 1689 – 10 February 1755), -
Salem Witch Trials
The Salem witch trials occurred in Massachusetts between 1692 and 1693. More than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft and 20 were executed. Eventually, the colony admitted the trials were a mistake and compensated the families of those convicted. -
Founding of North Carolina
The first town in North Carolina, is built. -
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat. As a scientist, he was a major figure in the American Enlightenment and the history of physics for his discoveries and theories regarding electricity.
(January 17, 1706 – April 17, 1790) -
Jean Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of 18th-century Romanticism of French expression. His political philosophy influenced the French Revolution as well as the overall development of modern political, sociological and educational thought.
(28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) -
The First Great Awakening
The Great Awakening was a period of great revival that spread throughout the colonies in the 1730s and 1740s. It deemphasized the importance of church rules and instead put a greater importance on the individual and their spiritual experience. -
Founding of Georgia
In 1732, James Oglethorpe was given a charter from King George II to create a new colony which he would name Georgia. This was located between South Carolina and Florida. It had two main purposes: to serve as a place where debtors in prison could go to start anew and it served as a barrier against Spanish expansion from Florida.
